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Dangerous
Dangerous is a novella set in the Darkest Powers series which was published in the short story compilation The Complete Darkest Powers Tales and is a partial prequel to the novel The Summoning. It fleshes out the story told to Chloe Saunders of how Derek Souza and Simon Bae came to Lyle House and is told from Derek’s point-of-view. Synopsis: It begins with a flashback to Derek's life ten years previous, when he was being studied in The Edison Group's lab with the other Werewolf subjects. It tells how when Derek was five the other Werewolf subjects attacked a nurse and were killed. Even at this young age Derek excelled in mathematics. Kit Bae asks if Derek wants to come home with him and he agrees Ten years later, a week after Christmas break and at school Derek, who is now 16 is using the name Derek Brown and struggling with authority, his 'attitude' and the fact that his coursework isn't challenging enough for him. He's stopped by girls trying to find out if Simon has a date to a Valentines dance and manages to scare them off by pretending to ask one of them out. Derek comes across three high school seniors, small town thugs, they're bothering Simon by being racist and demanding the basketball court where Simon is playing. Simon doesn't give in and insults them back with jabs and jokes, making them more angry. It turns physical and their leader punches Simon, knocking him to the ground after Simon's knockback spell fails. The leader picks Simon up and pins him to wall, pulling a knife, Derek pulls him off Simon and throws him back. Derek hears a crack but doesn't pay it much attention, focused on dealing with the other two. When he realises the bully is hurt they call Kit and then 911. Derek is questioned by power tripping Detective Fulbright who stereotypes him, having already made up his mind about Derek and believing him to be on steroids. That night a reporter from the local paper calls and speaks to Kit. That night Kit receives a call most likely from Andrew Carson. The following day at school Mark Walker the brother of the boy Derek injured accosts him with a crowd of other kids, wanting to fight him. Derek backs down but Mark still lunges at him, Simon launches a successful knockback at him causing him to stumble back. Mark accuses Simon of pushing him but Simon points out he never touched him. The mob are broken up by Mr. Thierry the principal who knows he can't expel Derek as the fight was after school hours and Derek broke it up, not started it. Instead Derek has to spend the day sat outside the office. The science teacher Ms. Carter comes to give Derek some work to do and to talk to the principal, she accuses him of overly punishing Derek as the father of the boy he hurt, Travis Walker is a big alumni supporter. Travis' son had been caught on school property before but hadn't been expelled because of his fathers financial support of the school. Kit calls Derek to tell them him that they need to leave town. The story made the Albany paper with enough information about them that he worries The Edison Group would be able to identify them. They plan to leave after Simon's basketball game that night. When Kit fails to pick them up from the school they head home to find the van out front, Kit's keys and cell phone inside and their things partially packed. Derek and Simon are unsure what to do, Derek wants to leave immediately but Simon convinces him to stay until morning. At ten at night Derek receives a call from Detective Fulbright who wants to speak to his father, he lets slip that the boy Derek hurt has some injury to his spine. Simon catches Derek thinking about leaving, almost subconsciously about to do it, he's worried about what he did to the boy and blaming himself for their dad being missing. Police cars pass the house and, worried about being caught running off, the boys decide to stay until morning as Simon had planned. In the morning though a blue sedan shows up with two people claiming to be police, Derek overhears them and doubts if they really are officers so they sneak out and away from the house. After leaving an actual police car stops to speak to them, Detective Fulbright has been trying to get ahold of their dad, they don't know anything about 'officers' being sent to their house. Simon promises to ask their dad to call the detective and they leave, heading back home. When they get there their dads van is gone, which they were going to use to get away. Checking inside they find their dads keys and cell phone also missing as well as their half packed things. After Simon calls their dad's cell and Derek warns someone might have traced the call they leave the house again, aiming to get to Albany to track down the Sorcerer, Paul Khan, who helped their dad get his job hoping he will be able to help them find their dad. They make their way to the Sorcerer's apartment building where his neighbours haven't seen him since the day the article about Derek appeared in the Albany paper, Derek hopes it's a coincidence. They are about to break into Paul's apartment when two people in business suits arrive, hiding in the stairwell Derek hears them asking about Paul and anyone who was looking for them, recognising a mans voice but unable to place it. Simon worries they're looking for them both and they break into Paul's apartment hoping they'll believe they already left the building. Derek finds Paul dead in his bedroom with a shot to the head and a gun in his hand, he blames himself worrying that Paul commited suicide after seeing the article as he was in hiding from the Cabals and had helped out their dad. He also considers the possibility that Paul was killed, possibly for information and then the body was staged to make it look like a suicide. It's unlikely he was able to shoot himself with an unsilenced gun in a building where a neighbour said you could hear someone sneeze through the wall. Derek doesn't tell Simon what he found, claiming that it looked like Paul had taken off instead, they decide to leave, outside it's heavily snowing and they're forced to run when a black suv starts following them. When they stop they're nearby a police car, the officers recognise them and one addresses them by their alias', Derek Brown and Simon Kim. Simon whips up a fog spell to allow Derek to escape but Derek won't leave him, especially with what he saw had happened to Paul and confirms who he is and that they're looking for their dad. Simon gives the officers a story close to the truth about finding their dad missing and going to check with a friend, the officers take them to a police station. The first doors they try won't open and when they get inside people break into a spontaneous mob fight, Derek notices people are being hit by knockback spells as well as spotting the people who were looking for Paul in the crowd. Two women from child services approach Derek and Simon who go with them to put distance between them and the people who were looking Paul, who Derek overhears talking about them, confirming that they are the real targets. The parents of the boy that Derek hurt have decided not to press charges and with their dad missing and no other family they end up in child services custody. They return to their home which Derek notices has been covertly searched, while they're packing up their stuff child services find a missing persons file with their real names filed in Buffalo from ten years before. To sort out the confusion that file has raised the boys are going to be taken to a group home in Buffalo. Group homes in Buffalo are having a shortage of space and they want to keep the boys together so they're taken to a new group home, one that hasn't even officially opened, where they'll be the only kids there. Lyle House. Characters * Derek Souza * Simon Bae * Kit Bae * Paul Khan * Mrs. Talbot Category:Darkest Powers Series Category:Darkest Powers Short Story